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Statue of Liberty About To Get New Neighbor: A Museum That Honors Her

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A new museum will open at the Statue of Liberty in 2019/Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation

The Statue of Liberty’s original torch, a welcoming beacon for immigrants and boats in New York Harbor for nearly a century, will be the highlight of a new $70 million museum that depicts the statue’s history, influence, and legacy in the world.

Entrance to the museum, set to open on Liberty Island in 2019, will be free with the purchase of a ferry ticket to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. It will enhance the experience for the island’s 4.3 million annual visitors, the majority of whom can’t get a ticket to the statue’s crown and current museum, which is in the statue’s pedestal, due to safety limitations put in place after September 11, 2001.

“With state-of-the-art exhibitions and iconic artifacts including the statue’s original torch, the new Statue of Liberty Museum will ensure that future generations know, understand, and appreciate all that Lady Liberty represents in America and around the world,” Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island Superintendent John Piltzecker said in a release.

Designs for the 26,000-foot museum, which were unveiled this month by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, feature a building that appears to rise out of the ground in the shadow of the 300-foot-tall statue, with a green roof-scape and bird-safe glass exteriors. The centerpiece will be the statue’s original torch, held high for nearly 100 years but replaced in 1986. It will be housed in a glass-walled gallery with views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline. The building will allow the display of artifacts and exhibits on the history of the statue, its original concept, design, and construction, and the 1986 centennial restoration. The museum will explore the philosophical concept of liberty and how the Statue of Liberty serves not only as an American symbol but as an iconic global symbol.

The Statue of Liberty's original torch will be on display at the new museum/Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation

Visitors will be able to take a virtual flythrough inside the monument with awe-inspiring perspectives and an overview of the statue and how the world has changed around it. Exhibits delve into stories about the statue’s construction, history, and global impact. The culmination of the museum experience has visitors consider their own roles in liberty’s future through engaging activities.

“Our goal is for visitors to take away a richer picture of what the Statue of Liberty has meant to people throughout her history – not only in this nation but around the world – and to see themselves as part of the amazing story of liberty’s future,” said Edwin Schlossberg, president and principal designer of ESI Design, which is creating the exhibitions.

The interior and exterior spaces will be built with the materials native to Liberty Island and materials used to build the Statue of Liberty and Fort Wood, including Stony Creek granite, bronze, plaster, and a variety of native vegetation. Pursuant to the new FEMA executive order on floodplain management and resiliency, the museum will be set above 500-year flood levels and built to withstand hurricane-force winds.

“From the start, the design of the Statue of Liberty Museum was conceived as an extension of the park,” said Nicholas Garrison, partner and project designer at FXFOWLE, the architecture firm that designed the building. “The goal was to engage with the park’s formal, axial plan and respond to its spectacular setting. The island’s landscape is lifted and merged with the architecture to create space for the museum in a new geology. The building's angular forms and spaces are shaped by its views and the irregularity of the water's edge, celebrating liberty.”

Liberty Island will continue to be open to visitors throughout construction of the new museum. Ferry tickets and boat schedules to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are available at www.StatueCruises.com.

A landscaped roof will afford views of the Statue of Liberty and New York City/Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation

Diane von Furstenberg was named chair of the fundraising campaign that seeks to raise $100 million for the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which, in partnership with the National Park Service, drove the historic restorations of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

“Lady Liberty is the symbol of everything America is about: freedom, hope, possibility, and resilience. It is she that millions of immigrants saw first as they arrived in this country, their hearts full of dreams for a brighter future. Now it is my hope that the Statue of Liberty and her incredible story will live on and on, inspiring generations for years to come,” Ms. von Furstenberg said.

This is the first new building construction undertaken by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which has been responsible for historic restoration and preservation since the 1980s.

“The Statue of Liberty is not just one of the most recognized monuments in the world, but an international symbol of hope that deserves to have her story shared with everyone who visits Liberty Island,” said Stephen Briganti, Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation President and CEO.

For more information about the new Statue of Liberty Museum, visit http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/statueoflibertymuseum.

The Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France, was dedicated on October 28, 1886, and designated as a national monument in 1924. In 1984, the statue was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Comments

Looks like it will be a marvelous museum. What staffing is budgeted for?


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